The Goophered Grapevine and Sheriff's Children

"What is a White Man"? Well The Sheriff is a powerful white character in The Sheriff's Children. A typical white person during this time was well educated and respected by his peers. The sheriff boasts an above average education and holds the respect of just about every one of his fellow townsmen. He is noted to have held many slaves in his day. This is why that it came as quite a surprise when Chesnutt revealed that the black prisoner was the sheriff's son. These unexpected twists and turns kept the entire story very interesting. I'm sure this issue of miscegenation wasn't recieved well at all during this time period. The Goophered Grapevine does indeed use masking to address racial stereotypes. For example, it's a story within a story so there is double the protection for Chesnutt. He has Julius' character mention watermelons and chicken and other stereotypical foods that African Americans are said to love. He has the main tale told by Julius' point of view which ends up being unreliable. His story isn't reliable because he has personal profit to gain by keeping the vineyard abandoned. If it sells to the original narrator from Ohio then he would no longer profit off of the remaining vines. We see that the vineyard is indeed profitable and that the "goopher" is no longer in effect (if it ever was). I think a theme that we see in both stories is the willingness of the white owner to sell off their slaves in order to profit for themselves. Henry is sold off every summer and bought back for cheaper in the winter. The master doesn't care about him personally, he just wants his money. He is viewed as property and that's why he is compared to an extension of the grapevine which is used to gain profit for the plantation. The Sheriff also sold his own son because he got a deal too good to pass up and the money was needed. He wasn't viewed as a son but rather as property. Another theme we see to a certain extent is how far both African American characters were willing to go in order to get free. The prisoner in The Sheriff's Children is willing to kill his own father in order to gain his own freedom. While Julius is not necessarily a slave or trapped in any way, he gets to enjoy a profitable life while the vineyard remains abandoned. He is willing to lie about a perfectly good vineyard in order to gain profit for himself.